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| Jane Ferguson from Wikipedia |
LUCY BURDETTE: I’ve been watching with horror as events unfolded in Afghanistan over the past few weeks, especially with the Afghan women. We watch the PBS newshour most nights and there is a remarkable Irish reporter, Jane Ferguson, who almost always reports from the most conflict-ridden middle east hotspots--pick a frightening war zone and she was there. Syria, Iraq, Somalia...she even had herself smuggled into Yemen more than once. When the US withdrawal was first announced, she came to the US and appeared in the DC studio for a couple of days. But then she reappeared interviewing people at the Kabul Airport. Could there be a less safe place for any woman, much less an intrepid, fearless, blonde woman reporter? This made me wonder what makes her brave enough to choose that work. I admire her deeply for being determined to tell these frightening and important stories, but I am a chicken. I would never have flown back into that country, nor stood in the streets with armed Taliban all around asking natives for their reactions.
That’s my question for today, Reds. How brave are you?
HALLIE EPHRON: I am in awe of anyone, male or female, who can walk into a war zone in order to ensure that accurate information about what’s going on comes out. Reporters like Martha Raddatz who used to comment regularly on Washington Week. And these days journalists are literally targeted. How brave am I: not.
RHYS BOWEN: I think I could only be brave if my children were involved. I used to imagine living in Nazi Germany and wonder if I would dare to hide Jewish friends, smuggle them to safety. I speak almost perfect German and also wondered if I could have been a successful spy. I’m sure my terror would have given me away when chatting with a Gestapo officer! But if someone was going to take my kids, I know I could kill and take all kinds of risks.
DEBORAH CROMBIE: I'm sure I would never be as brave as your investigative journalist, Lucy. I do hope I would be brave enough to protect my family in an emergency. But on a more everyday level, maybe bravery is a relative thing. I was thinking what a wimp I am, then it occurred to me that I travel alone all the time, including internationally. I walk around London by myself at night and (almost) never worry. But I know other people who say they can't imagine even making a plane flight alone--it would be too scary.
HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: People say to me, oh, your job must be so dangerous! Ha. I say--you have no idea about the danger for my colleagues in war zones. Yes, Martha Raddatz and Clarissa Ward, oh my gosh. Christiane Amanpour. Richard Engel. I have wired myself with hidden cameras and gone undercover and in disguise--but Boston is not Kabul. I give them so much honor and awe.
JENN McKINLAY: I think if it was my job, I'd be dedicated and brave because I'd have chosen to put myself there. Like Debs, I travel alone all the time, in the U.S. and internationally, so being in foreign places doesn't make me nervous. I've also attended a lot of protests at the state capitol, where it can get pretty dicey but I chose to be there so, again, not afraid. That being said, I've never been in a war zone and since I did not choose war reporter as a profession I hope I never am!
JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I am firmly in the cowardly camp. I'm a great believer in Gavin de Becker's The Gift of Fear, and if I'm in a place or with a person that feels off, I will yeet on out of there, no questions asked. Plus, I'm made for conciliation, not confrontation; I'm far more comfortable negotiating to the middle than arguing to a draw. Like Jenn, I've traveled a lot by myself and I've protested, but those don't require bravery, just common sense and alertness.
However, I'll echo Rhys: if my children were involved, all bets are off.
Red readers, how brave are you?
Brave, I am not . . . .
ReplyDeleteHowever, like Rhys and Julia, if my children or grandchildren were involved, there is nothing I wouldn't do . . . .
Right? I hate the "Mamma Bear" thing, but it's pretty accurate when it comes to parental/grandparental reactions.
DeleteI am in awe of anyone who goes into a war zone to give aid or make sure the truth gets out. I don't think I'm brave enough. Of course, like others here have noted, if it involved my children or grandchildren, I would step up to the task.
ReplyDeleteI do wonder if the reporters feel like it takes bravery, Kathy, or of, like me traveling alone through Europe, they just feel they need know-how and common sense?
DeleteYeah, you need to be brave. As well as the other stuff.
DeleteI have come to the conclusion that I am not all that brave and definitely too selfish to be brave. The more I read stories of people showing real bravery and sacrifice, the more I realize that isn't me at all.
ReplyDeleteI think we all like to imagine we'd be hiding refugees in the attic, but there's a reason they make movies about people being brave and self-sacrificing: because it's not the usual human default!
DeleteI am not brave, but I will fight for my family.
ReplyDeleteLike Debs and Jenn, I have travelled alone in North America and internationally for work and leisuee since I was 19. None of those trips made me nervous. But I never traveled to a war zone or somewhere really dangerous! Besides solo travel, I am pretty cautious about doing most things, so I'm not that brave.
ReplyDeleteI'm not even brave enough to get on an airplane in a pandemic, let alone venture into a war zone. I have Quaker friends who chain themselves to gates to protest pipelines or war equipment manufacture. Not me.
ReplyDeleteBut this is making me think about my brave protagonists. In every book, there's usually at least one scene where she is confronted with real danger by someone in her community. She has to disable the threatening person and get herself to safety. Don't be surprised in the next book if she has a thought about women in war zones...
I am brave, but I am not into taking unnecessary risks. I know people have different ideas about what is necessary and what is unnecessary, but I could never justify putting myself in the middle of a war zone - even if people do "need to know." I am brave in the way I handle my own life's challenges, most I didn't ask for. Like Deb and some of the rest of you, I have travelled solo and do things some of my friends would never do. I don't think it's dangerous because I am a good person to take care of me in these situations. When I am no longer a good person to take care of me, I will stop. I will - and have - put myself at risk for my children. For me, that is "necessary."
ReplyDeletethat's an interesting differentiation Mary, and everyone probably has a different answer about what's necessary!
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ReplyDeleteAh, Blogger. Working?
ReplyDeleteBrave?Me? No. Thinking of a woman sitting next to me on a cross country flight in 1970s. She was recently widowed and flying to see her adult daughter. She asked the flight attendant to reset her watch. Her husband had always done it for her. (1970s an analog pull the stem and move the hands watch, remember?) Most likely, this flight was the bravest thing she had ever done.
Interesting example Elisabeth. Reminds me that I need to push myself sometimes and make sure I could do what needed to be done. (The iphone now resets itself, so that would not be an issue!)
DeleteOh, that is heartbreaking.
DeleteI have no doubt that any here would put themselves in danger for a child. Bravery or instinct, doesn't matter which. Doesn't even have to be your own child.
ReplyDeleteWithout the skills necessary for survival, I can't imagine being in a war zone. Like Rhys, I've though about whether I would be brave enough to shelter a Jew during the Holocaust. I'd like to think I would, but then we'll never know.
The most frightening thing I've had to do is go into South Central LA in the middle of the night to deal with a stopped IV. There was a "police presence" around the apartment building, which was way more terrifying than the residents. Sometimes you just do what you have to do.
At present I'm worried about Richard Engel. He's certainly in harm's way, and I wonder if it isn't time to pull him back.
Instinct is right, Ann. It just occurred to me that I have twice jumped fully clothed into pools to pull out toddlers, while everyone else, including their horrified parents, just stood there.
DeleteSome people think more quickly than others, too. Sounds like you have a fast reaction time, brave Debs!
DeleteYes, I agree. I'm more of a jump into action type than a stand there a ring my hands.
DeleteWhat a thought provoking topic. Who remembers Dan Rather's reports from Viet Nam?
ReplyDeleteMy first thought is that journalists are killed all over the world all of the time. Sometimes they are targeted (war or no war) because what they are reporting angers cartels, landowners, big business, etc. Sometimes they are just there when the bombs fall. Sometimes, like Daniel Pearl, they are simply murdered. I could not do what they do.
You know in literature, as in life, there are those who rush into danger and those who run the other way. We love our brave protagonists who can still act in spite of the threat. That's why police and spies and quick thinking civilians are the ones we love to follow in stories.
I love Rhys's response today. I often think about that time, too. I wonder if I'd have had the strength to survive. Would I have read the signs correctly and left in time? Would I have fought in the underground? Who would I be if tested? I don't know.
I’m not brave. Like others here, I’ve travelled alone but I never really put me at risk intentionally.
ReplyDeleteI would say I’m not brave. But sometimes I wonder if bravery is something you acquire just as it’s needed. I’m thinking of all the adults who were killed at Sandy Hook, protecting children. When they woke up that morning they thought they were going off to an ordinary day at work.
ReplyDeleteDebRo
Good point Deb. and then there was the school resource officer at the high school in Parkland, Florida, who hid during a school shooting. maybe we don't know what we'd do until the time comes?
DeleteToday, Jim Benn, author of the WWII Billy Boyle mysteries posted a link to the Murder is Everywhere blog where he talks about heroes. Here is the link.
ReplyDeletehttps://murderiseverywhere.blogspot.com/?fbclid=IwAR1A_nzYoagPbZhbdzYZkiw31SfleuHXRXwp0ROgNdfGsVM8EkHcDAt-Tr0
Oh, thank you! I will find that.
DeleteSince I have never been in a situation that calls for bravery I am not sure how brave I could be. Having been a teacher I have sometimes thought about how I would have handled terror in the school. I probably would have done anything to protect "my" kids, instinctively, without thinking about it. Still, I'm happy that that particular need never arose for me. In other situations I am more of a back away and get out of there person.
ReplyDeleteI always say that my characters are braver than I ever would be. Miss Gloria would rush in to protect just about anyone...
DeleteExcellent topic. I don't know how brave I am (or not). Others have called me brave, but in truth, I was reacting, not acting. Bravery in my case was situational and I was rising to the occasion and taking calculated risks for myself and others. Nothing extraordinary. Brave - that's people like Lara Logan and Christiane Amanpour who willingly go into situations knowing the risks and accept them anyway.
ReplyDeleteI highly recommend Kerrie Logan Hollihan's REPORTING UNDER FIRE, a YA book profiling women war correspondents and photojournalists.
ReplyDeleteWhenever I see a movie about the Gestapo and Resistance, I think about my own actions. Shelter children? Yes, no doubt. Perform missions for the Resistance? If I were single, without children, yes. I'm adept at being invisible.
“Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.” - John Wayne
ReplyDeleteFor everyone saying they aren't brave, if you've ever been scared of something, but it had to be done so you did it, you were brave. Like everything else, bravery is in degrees.
Just because you can't go into the middle of a war zone and report the news doesn't mean you aren't brave.
Oh, I love that quote. I think I'm not a very timid person because my childhood was pretty rough. It forced me to be brave when I would much rather have hid.
DeleteIt's all relative, right? My mother is constantly freaking out over what she considers terrifying activities that I've taken part in, and then my intrepid daughters have done. I have driven all over the US, corner to corner, alone. But my kids have raised the ante, driving all over Europe in a travel van alone. Rock climbing in Thailand, alone. After hitchhiking to get there. Watching my daughter drive on the left in absolutely maniacal traffic in Nairobi I admired her extreme courage. And the oldest was an ER nurse for 12 years. That took more bravery than most of us have.
ReplyDeleteOne of the people I most admire is Anne Garrels, the NPR reporter who was not only the only woman, she was the only reporter, period, in Baghdad for a long stretch in the second Gulf War. Another blonde American woman, paving the way for women like Jane Ferguson. She had a satellite phone, and in order to escape detection broadcast at night, naked. That way if someone came to her door she could ask to be given time to dress, and have enough time to also hide her phone. I remember her voice becoming increasingly strained, but she soldiered on.
I think we would all rise to the occasion, just in varying degrees. We can't all be Anne Garrels, but we can have the courage to stand by our convictions. That's also bravery, on many levels.
Thanks Karen, as I read through these posts I couldNOT remember Anne Garrells name. Yes she was brave and stalwart.
DeleteAnn Garrels! I went to see her speak in Boston after her book came out. Remarkable woman.
Deleteabsolutely! i followed her reports every day on NPR. she was amazing. jane ferguson and richard engel are my current heroic truth-tellers.
DeleteI have never been in a war zone, so that sort of bravery is an unknown quantity for me. In those times, I think if I connected with an individual on some personal level, I would do what I could to help. A here, now, urgency to help.
ReplyDeleteI will say, though, that we seem to be fighting a war against ignorance, malice, and disinformation right at this moment and I hope that I will have the courage to stand publicly for what I believe. These days, putting a mask on and walking out into public spaces seems risky :-(
You said it, Flora.
DeleteNot. Brave. At. All.
ReplyDeleteWhenever I read or hear of ordinary (or extraordinary) people doing brave things, risking their lives for others, standing up to unbearably dangerous evil, trying to get their children out of, say, Kabul, against all odds...all I can think is, thanks to all of the fates and gods still doing business in the 21st century that that is not ME.
My bones would turn to water.
I wonder if we know. Part of it, maybe, is choosing to find out.
DeleteWhile these women are undeniably brave, in some ways I think bravery misses the essence of why they can do this when most of us can't. I believe most journalists go into that work because they feel a calling -- an intrinsic NEED to track the truth and let it be known to all. They are brave in these scary situations because they feel it is where they need to be, just like first responders who run into the fire instead of away from it and so many other examples. Without that sense of vocation, that this is what they were made to do, I'm not sure if any amount of bravery would get them through it. In fact, if they were driven ONLY by bravery, they would probably be a lot less effective at providing us meaningful insights, and their actions would look less like bravery and more like foolishness. Or so it seems to me from the safety of my desk at a non-profit in Ohio.
ReplyDeleteBeautifully said, Susan.
DeleteI'm not sure how to define bravery. Rising to the occasion even if it puts you at risk? Acting or reacting without thought to aid or help? Bravery is going to be very individual. I do my best to avoid potentially dangerous situations. You will not find me at a parking lot after dark. I am on high alert in a parking garage at all times. I will cross the street to avoid a group of men just hanging out on a sidewalk. But all that is just common sense. Would bravery kick in if someone was in harm's way? I hope so. Sometimes bravery may just be choosing to operate outside of your comfort zone. Many years ago I donated a kidney to my now deceased youngest sister. I did not consider that brave; actually it was very passive. I just showed up and everyone else did the work. If I had been terrified of hospitals, doctors, the whole enchilada, that would have been bravery. But I wasn't, and it wasn't.
ReplyDeleteI just heard Ann Ferguson on NPR. Now I have a face to attach to that name. Thank you, Roberta.
ReplyDeleteAnd of course I meant Jane Ferguson. (I have a midwife friend in my town named Ann Ferguson - also a hero, but on a local level, thus my confusion.)
DeleteIn my old age, I am cautious. In my youth I was fearless and thought I was Lois Lane. I wanted to major in journalism and become a foreign correspondent. Instead, I went to Barnard where at the time there not only was no such thing as a journalism major, but only one writing course which taught me nothing, just took the joy out of writing for me for many years. I wound up in law school, and spent what boldness remained in me battling a system that told me there was something wrong with me for wanting to do what men could do. Which is probably a good thing: I have often thought that had I been the foreign correspondent I wanted to be, I would surely have been killed in Viet Nam based on the sheer stupidity of the chances I was willing to take. Then, not now.
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